The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (3.21.1987)

-Cold open: a family tragedy, as Arn assaults Ole after a match.

-Originally aired March 21, 1987.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & David Crockett.

-Barry Windham is here. Ric Flair is returning from an overseas tour, and he just wants to make sure Flair knows that he’s still waiting for his rematch.

VLADIMIR PETROV & IVAN KOLOFF (U.S. Tag Team Champions) vs. ALAN MARTIN & LARRY CLARKE
-Since it pays to be friends with Dusty, they went ahead and put a belt on Murdoch even though he was about to dilly-dally off to Japan for an extended visit, so the Freebird rule is in effect and Vladimir is now U.S. Tag Team Champ.

-Koloff drops the leg on Clarke and tosses him out to the floor. Vladimir helpfully deposits him back in the ring, with a funny call of the action from David: “Vladimir slamming him right in the…” and then stopping cold in mid-sentence because it didn’t really look like anything.

-Vladimir with his one super badass-looking move, the standing front facelock and just bouncing the guy up and down while holding onto him. Alan Martin tags in, with the crowd applauding like the tide is finally turning in this match.

-Ivan just chops and beats on Martin before tagging Vlad the Injector back in. They double team Clarke, and the sickle gets three.

-Ron Garvin is looking forward to getting Jim Cornette in the cage, and joining forces with his brother Jimmy to win the Crockett Cup. Gorgeous Jimmy comes out and he’s a whole bundle of energy, thinking about all the stuff he’s gonna buy for Precious when he wins the Crockett Cup.

-Paul Jones is here with Ravishing & Raging to rattle off a list of cities. They’re #1, not just in terms of seeding, but also in general terms.

GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs KENT GLOVER
-Arm stuff is exchanged, with Jimmy snapping Glover’s arm over the top rope to appease this injury-thirsty studio audience. Garvin stays on the arm and finally finishes Glover with the brainbuster.

-JJ Dillon is here, saying there is no dissention in the Four Horsemen, because they’ve removed the guy who was causing the trouble, haven’t they?

-And that takes us to the footage from NWA Pro Wrestling, with JJ and Arn running in during Ole’s squash match, beating him down, and spitting on him to drive the point home. Ole makes it back to his feet, and instead of getting medical attention, he goes straight to the Horsemen’s locker room and gets right in Ric Flair’s face, demanding that he pick a side. Flair chooses rounding up JJ and the other Horsemen for a 5-on-1 ass-kicking, and now Ole’s in REALLY bad shape.

-Ric Flair says that Cousin Ole helped him break into wrestling when he was only 16. Ole was his idol because of how dedicated he was. But Ole’s passion for wrestling is gone and now he’s just taking up space.

ARN ANDERSON & LEX LUGER (with JJ Dillon) vs TOMMY ANGEL & LARRY STEVENS
-Arn goes right to business on the arm of Tommy Angel. Luger presses him throat first on the top rope, and Arn DEMANDS a tag for fresh blood. He throws Stevens out to the floor and JJ tosses him back in Petrov-style so Arn can work the neck. Arn and Lex double team him in the corner. They should probably wrap this up for Stevens’ sake because one of his boots is coming apart. Spinebuster by Arn and the torture rack by Luger, which is a GREAT combo for a finisher. I can see the logic of teaming up Lex and Arn (try to get a great worker to “rub off” on a green guy) but at the same time, I can see why they went with Arn & Tully long-term. They just looked more like running buddies than Arn & Lex.

BRAD ARMSTRONG vs PAUL GARNER
-Brad works the arm and takes Garner down to the mat. Brad stays on the arm and gives me very little to type other than that for the next four minutes.

-Tully Huxtable is out here in a stylish sweater to scold Ole further for his loss of interest in the business.

-Tony Schiavone is here with Jim Crockett Jr. to confirm Ole Anderson vs. Big Bubba in a cage on the first night of the Crockett Cup. Given that the show has been laser focused on Ole vs. HORSEMEN, I don’t see that one drawing much interest.

TIM HORNER vs EL LOBO
-They brought back El Lobo! And just in time, because they go to commercial immediately.

-Back from the break, Horner has a side headlock applied. Lobo fights back and they trade hammerlocks. Horner stays on the arm. David hypes the Crockett Cup by just pimping the hell out of Baltimore itself. Did they seriously get some kind of deal for doing the event there?

-Side headlock by Horner. Lobo gets out and drops an elbow. He rams Horner into the turnbuckle and then applies a chinlock. They slug it out and have an AWKWARD exchange after a leapfrog where neither guy has any idea what spot they should do next. So Horner just ends it with a natural bridge. Whew. That thrill-packed finish gave me whiplash.

-Horner is ready for the Crockett Cup, and remember what they say: Anything can happen in Baltimore. Remember, being in the Crockett Cup means wrestling in the morning, wrestling in the evening…but with pizza on a bagel, you can wrestle anytime.

-Nikita Koloff is here to run down “Ivan Koloff.” It’s strange to hear him use the full name like that. He’s still your uncle, dude.

WAHOO MCDANIEL vs RANDY BARBER
-Wahoo clamps on a side headlock and hits the mat right away, looking quite comfy down there. Barber fights back to his feet, so Wahoo applies a top wristlock to punish Barber for making him do stuff. David tries to polish the turd by saying “Wahoo is like an old car, he’s dented but he can still wreck you.”

-Wristlock by Wahoo, maximizing the pain while minimizing the cardio. Big chop ends it.

RON GARVIN (with Precious) vs DEXTER WESCOTT
-Gorgeous Jimmy’s on commentary, saying that he has no problem letting Precious go to the ring for his brother because she’s so good for backrubs and moral support.

-Chops and a front facelock by Garvin. He gives Dexter a WEDGIE and throws him out to the floor, then drags him in with a headlock and a headbutt. Garvin pretzels as Dexter’s life continues to suck. Again, Garvin’s offense is just FUN to watch, even without anything high impact. I wish someone would work a style like this again. I know it won’t happen, but Garvin really had a unique style and did stuff no one else would do.

-Jim Cornette comes out wearing a really funny Jimmy Garvin costume and kisses a photo of a fat woman. Funny, as they go to commercial and we return with Jim “as himself” to cut ANOTHER promo.

BEAUTIFUL BOBBY (with Jim Cornette) vs. ALAN FOX
-Cornette says he wants to prove his men are just as talented in singles matches as they are in tags, and in the coming weeks, Bobby and Dennis both are going to be wrestling in singles matches. Sure they are.

-Bobby tosses Fox out to the floor and does a slick move, kicking him in the face while slingshotting himself out to the floor. Cornette gives the schlub a gentle slap. Bobby connects with a knee off the top rope but decides not to bother getting the third count. Cornette goes on a tangent about Ron Garvin and his fondness for porno magazines before going to the ring for a really funny bit where Bobby wants to do a suplex but can’t figure out how to do it because Fox isn’t standing up. Bobby and Cornette talk it over and Bobby decides to yank the guy up to his feet so he can do the suplex.

-Bobby tosses Fox out to the floor, then holds the rope open so he can get back in. Back suplex off the second rope by Bobby, and he does some OCD re-arranging of the body before he finally finds the position he wants and pins him. Little touch that I liked about the finisher: When most guys do a suplex from the top rope, they plant their opponent on the top rope, then let go, climb the turnbuckles, and grab onto the guy again. From the time Bobby decided to do the move to the moment of impact, he never took his hands off of Fox.

ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs ZANE SMITH & DARRELL DALTON
-Ricky works the arm on Zane Smith. Darrell Dalton tags in and still has the same nervous grin he had last week. Robert Gibson applies a front facelock and just refuses to let go. Chinlock by Ricky Morton, and Dalton’s learning how to sell now. Double dropkick ends it.

-Lex Luger…CUTS…the kind…of promo…that became his trademark…over…the years…wherehetalksalotfasterwhenhegetshistrainofthoughtgoing..but then HESITATES…while piecing…together…the next thing…that he’s going to say.

-Rock & Roll Express wants a million dollars, brother! Ricky takes another shot at Wrestlemania, reminding us that the NWA just needs wrestlers to sell tickets without help from movie stars (conveniently leaving out all those stadium shows with country singers the NWA did last summer that completely tanked).

BARRY WINDHAM vs BILL TABB
-Mat work by Barry. Back suplex and an uppercut, but Tabb shows some fire until missing a legdrop. Atomic drops by Windham, and the flying lariat gets three.

-The Four Horsemen are here as a unit to make a point. Ole might say he’s still got the fire in him, but the way his tongue was hanging out after his last match says different.

4.0

The final score: review Poor

The 411

The Horsemen/Ole saga is so great, but...I dunno...when this episode focused on anything BUT the Horsemen storyline, it just felt like such a CHORE for some reason. Take a pass.